Kolb, Dielman (1691-1756)

Dielman Kolb, preacher of the Mennonite Church at Salford, Pennsylvania, b. 10 November 1691, at Wolfsheim, Palatinate, Germany, the youngest of six children, d. 28 December 1756 at Skippack, Pennsylvania. His father, Dielman Kolb, b. 1648 in Wolfsheim, d. 13 October 1712 in Mannheim, Germany, was married to a daughter of Peter Schumacher (a Quaker), who was one of the first Palatines to settle in Germantown in 1685. The son, and also his older brother Peter (d. 1727), who was a preacher at Mannheim, took a warm interest in his brethren who had been banished from Switzerland, sheltered them, and in general did much for them. He continued his correspondence with the Committee for Foreign Needs at Amsterdam after his arrival in America. In 1714 he married Elisabeth Schnebeli of Mannheim. On 21 March 1717 he immigrated to America with his family. They arrived in Philadelphia on 10 October 1717. From there Dielman Kolb went to Salford (in Montgomery County), where he bought about 500 acres of land. With Heinrich Funck he founded the Salford congregation (Mennonite Church) in 1738, and with him supervised the translation of the Martyrs’ Mirror from Dutch into German 1745-1748. It was through his influence that his close friend Christopher Dock’sSchulordnung was written and later (1770) published. In the struggles and needs of a pioneer Mennonite settlement his work and influence were of lasting benefit to the brotherhood. His only child Elizabeth was married to Andrew Ziegler (1707-1797), preacher (1746- ) and bishop (1762- ) at Skippack.

Bibliography

Cassel, D. K. A Genealogical History of the Kolb, Kulp or Culp Family. Norristown: 1895.